


the static of your arms, it is the catalyst

by OtterAndTerrier



Series: Ignite my circuits and start a flame [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Movie: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Pillow Talk, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Reunion Sex, Scars, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:55:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28142724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OtterAndTerrier/pseuds/OtterAndTerrier
Summary: Now he was here and, as eager as Leia was, she was also nervous. Of her eagerness. Of being a couple—at least she thought they might be—instead of lovers with a deadline.Self-indulgent RotJ smut with feelings.
Relationships: Leia Organa/Han Solo
Series: Ignite my circuits and start a flame [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1282184
Comments: 18
Kudos: 71





	the static of your arms, it is the catalyst

**Author's Note:**

> If this does anything for you, happy holidays! If not, I hope 2021 brings you something better.
> 
> Many thanks to **[lajulie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lajulie/pseuds/lajulie)** as usual for her amazing encouragement and suggestions, and to the Scoundress Shippers chat for helping me get this finished (even if it took a while).
> 
> This is my last fic of 2020, so have a peaceful end of year and a hopeful beginning. Thanks for sticking around.

The brush pressed against white teeth with more force than it was necessary, longer than it was necessary. It took Leia several minutes to realise her teeth were as clean as they would get. She spit, rinsed, and let the water run over the toothbrush. The texture of the cheap toothpaste inside her mouth reminded her of the drink Jabba had made her swallow only a few days earlier, except that, instead of fresh mint, it had tasted like dirty qiraadish left out to rot. Yet the reminder hadn’t been enough to make her get it over with quickly; instead, her mind had wandered to regions unknown, losing itself as her hand moved the brush of its own accord.

Her cabin’s buzzer rang. She closed the tap and dried her hands before stepping out of the ‘fresher. Her feet slowed down as she reached the doorway. It was Han, she knew. He had been released earlier that day from the medcenter; they’d gone out together to the mess hall, holding hands for everyone to see. Afterwards, Leia had had meetings to attend to, and Han had been eager to go to the _Falcon_ , now that his eyesight had returned, make sure nothing had changed during their time apart. She’d pulled him gently to a side of the hallway and tried not to sound like she had been silently practicing the words for the past several hours.

‘Would you like to come to my cabin later? My bed there, it’s bigger than the bunks at the _Falcon_. And our, um… our nest in the forward cargo hold, I took it apart. But if you think you’d feel more comfortable at the _Falcon_ , that’s okay too.’

Han had given her a slow-motion, lopsided grin.

‘Didn’t think I’d see the day you invited me to your cabin, Princess,’ he’d drawled, earning a half-amused scoff. ‘Yeah, I’ll be there.’

Now he was here and, as eager as Leia was, she was also nervous. Of her eagerness. Of being a couple—at least she thought they might be—instead of lovers with a deadline. Of the weight of those past six months on them, on her. Of the lingering effects Han might still be suffering that he was hiding, or didn’t know about yet. Of the guilt she felt, at having lost him, at having taken too long to get him back.

It wasn’t as if they hadn’t had any quiet moments together since Tatooine. After administering some first aid measures and talking for a while, Leia had wrapped herself around Han and they had caught a few hours of restorative sleep together. Once they’d arrived at _Home One_ , she’d spent the nights at the medcenter, curled up on a chair at first, then next to him on the bed. They had talked then, too, but some conversations were still to be had. Maybe those could still wait a little longer.

Leia took a deep breath and moved to the door, but remembering something, she stopped in her tracks.

‘Han?’

‘Yeah!’

‘Can you press your hand on the sensor for ten seconds?’

‘Uh, okay.’

Leia punched a few keys in the panel next to the door. Once the ten seconds passed, it lit up green. Satisfied, she shouted, ‘Try to open it now?’

He looked at her with a sort of smug surprise when the door slid open.

‘You gave me access?’

‘Of course. So you don’t have to wait if you come by and I’m not here. If you want to,’ she added, watching him carefully.

‘Yeah, sure,’ Han said, smiling down at her as he walked in, the door shutting out the corridor behind him. He checked her out while he was at it, Leia noticed; the pair of dull green shorts that left most of her legs exposed, ending in her socked feet, the old shirt she had borrowed from him during their flight to Bespin, the hair gathered back in a single braid, ready for bed. It was a sight he was no longer unfamiliar with, and not a particularly impressive look, in Leia’s opinion, but she recognized it as the same look she’d caught herself giving him many times while he casually walked around in his bare chest and trousers. It wasn’t about the novelty, but the surprise of something that was becoming familiar, comfortable.

His hand reached up to cup her jaw, and Leia’s stomach fluttered. His thumb rubbed the corner of her lips as he said, ‘You got a bit of toothpaste there.’

Leia barely got time to let out a small, self-conscious ‘Oh’ before he bridged the space between them and she felt his lips pressing against her own. His hand slid across her cheek to hold the back of her head, fingers sinking in her hair. She kissed him back slowly, the tips of her fingers touching his jaw lightly. He had cleaned up at the _Falcon_ : the crisp taste of his toothpaste snuck into her mouth, mixing with the spicy smell of his aftershave that touched her nose. She could also sense the faint perfume of ship repairs—grease, oil, welding smoke—on his shirt. Their recent kisses had been invaded by foreign smells: of carbonite, grime, Hutt, sickness back in Tatooine; of bacta, disinfectant and soup in the medcenter. Maybe that was partly why, even though they hadn’t been separated for long since their reunion, it hadn’t felt _right_ yet. This, finally, was them, unencumbered by anything else.

Han pulled apart after a few seconds and Leia opened her eyes. She hadn’t had enough yet, but she was going to follow his pace. 

‘That’s the oldest trick in the book,’ Leia told him, smiling. Han’s arms circled her waist, holding her close, and she let her hands rest on his chest.

‘Still worked.’ He nodded his chin at her. ‘Isn’t that my shirt?’

‘ _Was_ your shirt, hotshot. You gave it to me, in case you don’t remember.’

‘Oh, I remember,’ Han said with a flirty wiggle of his eyebrows as his hands swept across her back. ‘I didn’t know you liked it that much. ’S pretty ratty.’

Leia shrugged and looked down at herself, picking at a loose thread on the open neck. It was a simple button-down, off-white linen turned slightly yellow from age; with its long sleeves that ended at her fingertips unless she rolled them up and its hemline stopping at mid-thigh, it was wonderful to wear in bed.

‘It’s comfortable,’ she said. It had still smelled of him, of them, of the _Falcon_ , when she’d walked into the crew quarters to fetch it before Chewie and Lando took off for Tatooine. It had made her feel close to him, helped ground her when nothing else could, made her remember that for a while she’d had something real, something that made her feel things she’d fought hard to forget, something worth sticking around for. Leia would have liked to tell him that, but the words didn’t want to come out yet.

‘You make it look good,’ Han told her in the husky voice she’d missed so much, leaning down to kiss her neck. ‘I didn’t think to bring anythin’ to sleep in.’

‘We can check to see if I have something that’ll fit you; then I can return the favor.’

Han laughed into her skin, his nose pushing the fabric to reveal her shoulder. In spite of his warm breath, Leia shivered in his arms at the sensation, and he pulled her even closer in response as he pressed his lips to hers one more time.

‘I doubt you do, Princess,’ Han said, lifting up his head to look at her. His eyes were more green than grey now, and intense with desire. This time, Leia was already rising on her toes to meet him when he bent to kiss her, arms wrapping around his neck. Her shirt rode up her back when she stretched up, and Han slid both hands under it. Her body reacted to his touch; she imagined her flesh glowing under the large, calloused hands like the door panel, recognizing him, welcoming him home. A string of pleasure that extended from her head to the spot between her legs started to strum its first chords, and she sang an accompanying moan into his mouth. She was so bursting with six months of longing and desire, it felt as if one more caress would be enough to undo her.

‘Han,’ Leia whispered when they broke up for air, the tip of her nose brushing against his cheek as she looked into his eyes and tried to look serious. She was self-aware enough to know she probably looked anything but. ‘Wait. The medics said—you should avoid getting too excited—maybe—maybe we should wait.’

‘The medics discharged me ‘cos I’m doin’ fine,’ Han reminded her; then, smirking at her, ‘And I’m feelin’ better now. We can take it slow. Unless you need to wait, Leia. Then we’ll just go to bed.’

Leia let out a weak laugh. Her fingers untangled from his hair and she slid her hand down to cup his jaw, shaking her head slowly.

‘I’ve waited enough. So long that I—’ Her voice trembled.

‘Yeah?’

‘I don’t know if I can take it slow,’ she confessed. Han’s body expanded against her chest as he took a breath.

‘Then don’t worry ‘bout me. Bring it on.’ Han smirked at her again as he let her go and took a step back. He took his boots off, then his eyes were back on her as he worked on his holster and belt with practiced ease. Leia watched him, her body growing cold and protesting at his absence, and its complaint grew louder when his trousers and then his shirt exposed his body to her. It was not the same body she had enjoyed the last time, not after months of cruel encasement and inactivity, but that didn’t matter to her. The bruising and internal damage was gone, thanks to multiple bacta injections—immersion would have been faster, but Han had sat on the edge of the tank for a long minute until, cursing, he’d said he’d changed his mind. His neck was darker where it had tanned on Tatooine, but not red or peeling, as the direct bacta treatment had helped heal that, too. The sight made Leia feel suddenly self-conscious as Han walked back to her.

‘You’re waitin’ for me?’ he teased. 

Leia smiled and shimmied off her shorts and socks, but left the shirt on. She reached out a hand to dim the cabin’s lights and sat on the edge of her desk, looking invitingly at Han. He put his hands on her bare knees and parted her legs, stepping between them and bending down to kiss her hungrily as he caressed his way up her thighs. Her teeth accidentally grazed his tongue when he discovered she wasn’t wearing underwear and he moaned.

A thumb brushed all the way across her clit as it sank between her wet folds and back, strumming more notes of his own, louder and louder, until Leia was barely aware of her leg pressing him closer, the sweat that rolled off her skin and stuck the shirt to her back, and her own gasps as they took the form of Han’s name. Then all of that faded away and all that remained were his fingers driving her to the edge once, then twice, as she rode his hand and chased her want for him.

Han pushed her fringe off her sweaty brow with his clean hand, stroking her cheek and neck.

‘Leia,’ he said hoarsely as she caught her breath, her head tipped back. ‘You look beautiful. You look so good when you do that, Leia. I missed you.’

She let out a strangled sound, startling him. _He_ had missed her? It had been merely days for him—well, not exactly, he’d told her time hadn’t completely stopped for him, it had been more like being trapped in an endless nightmare—but still. He had missed her, wherever he’d been. Her eyes filled with tears, frustratingly; her chest heaved with a restrained sob, and she clung on to Han to ward it off until the tightness in her throat passed. Han held her back, understanding—maybe he needed that, too.

‘Alright?’ he asked when she finally pulled back.

‘Yes.’

Leia rested her hand on the back of his head and brought him down for a kiss, which turned into a series of kisses, each deeper than the last, until she hopped off the desk and pushed him towards the bed. Han sat down and she straddled him, kissing him on the lips again, moving to his neck, his chin, his collarbone.

‘Ain’t you hot in this? You’re soaked through,’ Han said, his hands running across her back, lifting the shirt off her skin to let the cool air in; she shivered at the relieving change. ‘Can I take it off?’

Leia hesitated, then kicked herself mentally for being so vain, so silly. What did it matter? What was she worried about?

She grabbed the bottom of the shirt and pulled it off, bracing herself for Han’s reaction.

He looked at her; he’d been waiting to see her. Now he saw her, saw the red marks of her sunburn, the white peeling of skin, the half-healed blisters where the sun-heated metal had pressed into her flesh. 

‘Does it hurt?’

‘No. I took enough bactade the first few days, but forgot to put on salve when it stopped bothering me.’

Every night after she’d finished work, she had barely stopped by her cabin for a shower before hurrying off to the medcenter, with a detour at the mess hall for a quick meal to-go. She’d put on the salve once or twice before shoving the tube in a drawer and forgetting all about it.

Han covered her ribs with his hands and brushed his palms lightly over the red patches and welts. It was as if he was making amends for the way he’d unknowingly touched and grabbed and pressed into that same skin under the shirt, even though Leia had told him the truth—it didn’t hurt. Not enough for her to want him to stop, anyway. She closed her eyes, enjoying the caresses, but opened them again when he muttered, ‘I’m sorry.’

Leia looked at him and exhaled, feeling her ribs rise under his fingertips.

‘I’d do it again, you know.’

His brow knitted for a second as some deep emotion passed through his face, and then he was kissing her hungrily again, his arms holding her as close as their bodies would allow. Leia pressed her hands against his chest until he lied on his back, dragging her down with him. She dragged her thigh slowly across his groin as they kissed, probing, teasing. His muscles had needed some rehabilitation to get used to the flow of blood and the bending of his joints, but his erectile capabilities fell outside of the medics’ care. They hadn’t discussed it, but Leia was sure Han had asked about it before leaving the medcenter.

She reached into his underwear and stroked the length of him. Han shivered, then stiffened; then, she felt the push of his body against her, as if he was trying to roll her on her back. He took her hand out gently.

‘I don’t know if I can tonight,’ he said gruffly into her neck as they lay entwined on their sides. Leia thought she could almost feel the anxiety rolling off him.

‘It’s okay,’ Leia whispered into his chin. ‘It’s okay if you can’t. But we don’t know that yet. Maybe we just need to... exercise it. Like the rest of your muscles. Maybe I can help, if you let me.’

‘Alright.’

Her hand reached down for him again and closed around his shaft, squeezing and stroking, while she pressed open kisses down his salty neck and collarbone. Her teeth grazed a nipple and Han grunted in pleasure. She could feel him stiffening in her hand. Her nails ran over his testicles and did a circuit, until he was hard and panting, his fingers digging into her bum.

‘Kriff. Leia,’ he said in a strangled voice, and she felt a drop of moisture in her fingers. ‘I got the shot yesterday.’

‘I had it recently, too. And I haven’t been with anyone, after…’ Leia added. It was meant to be a reassurance that they could do without condoms, if he wanted, but she found herself looking at his face, wanting him to know there wasn’t anyone else. Han nodded.

Her comlink beeped somewhere on the floor. With a huff, Leia untangled herself from Han and bent down, riffling through their discarded clothes on the floor until she found her vest. She patted down the pockets to locate the device and turned it off. There was a hoarse curse in Corellian when she straightened up on all fours, and she glanced over her shoulder. Han was half sitting up, staring at her, and all of him was still eager for her, waiting; the sight made her own core throb urgently again.

Crawling back to him, Leia pushed her hands against his chest and he laid down without resistance as she kneeled over him. She knew his muscles still spasmed and cramped at random, but she thought there might be less chance for them to be triggered this way. Han stroked her thighs, brushing his fingers over the red contours her metal prison had branded on her skin.

‘How are you feeling?’ she asked, running the palms of her hands over the trail of hair on his abdomen. Han smirked at her in response.

‘You really have to ask?’

‘Fair point,’ she said with a chuckle. ‘But if you start to feel uncomfortable, or anything hurts, you let me know, all right?’

‘You don’t have to worry that much about me.’

‘But I do anyway. Let me take care of you, Han.’

Leia’s eyes didn’t leave his as she lowered herself into him. Her hands grabbed his, fingers intertwined, as her knees sank into the mattress and she rocked against him, her body undulating in a slow rhythm. The friction was enough to simultaneously satisfy and increase her craving, and her eyelids closed heavily as she let the feelings take over her body again.

‘Han,’ she moaned as he rose in sync with her grinding. Her hands let go of his and braced on her thighs as she increased their pace, and she felt him cup her breasts, fingers rubbing over her nipples. ‘ _Han._ ’

‘Leia,’ he moaned in response, eyes roaming over her with unrestrained desire. ‘Fuck, Leia—Leia— _I love you—_ ’

He came faster and messier than usual inside her and she followed a little later. Their slick bodies rose and fell together as they trembled and caught their breath. Leia shifted to fish her braid, trapped between them as she’d laid down on his chest, and swung it over her shoulder.

‘C’mere,’ Han said, wrapping his arms around her back. Leia pushed herself up drowsily and they got under the sheets before she nestled up to him, resting her head on his shoulder. He pressed a kiss into her forehead. For the first time in many months, Leia felt safe and grounded.

Her hand pressed over his heart. ‘Are you still feeling okay?’

‘No, just fuckin’ fantastic,’ Han said, grabbing her hand and lifting it to his lips.

‘How did you find things back at the _Falcon_?’ she asked, knowing he had been antsy about it and remembering they hadn’t talked much yet this evening.

‘Fine. Mostly,’ he added, a little darkly.

‘Yeah? What was wrong?’

‘Lando messed with my chair.’

‘Mm, a tragedy for sure,’ Leia mumbled with a chuckle, ‘but it couldn’t be avoided.’

‘I’m surprised he didn’t put his hands anywhere else.’

‘Well, Chewie and I wouldn’t have let him,’ she told him, remembering how she’d found Lando trying to fix a panel in the cockpit and unfairly bitten his head off about it.

‘Yeah? You?’ Han looked down and raised his eyebrows at her. Leia shrugged one shoulder, downplaying its importance.

‘Of course. It’s _your_ ship.’

‘Yeah,’ Han said, although his eyes lingered on her. ‘Heard anything from Luke?’

‘Just his regular update. “Still on Dagobah completing Jedi training. Will rejoin the fleet soon”,’ Leia recited. ‘I wish he wasn’t so cryptic sometimes, but at least we know he’s alive.’

‘Kid’s changed from when I last saw him, huh?’ Han asked, frowning pensively. ‘What the hell happened to him after Hoth?’

‘All I know is he went to Dagobah and trained with an old Jedi Master,’ Leia reminded him. This was a conversation they’d already had. ‘Then he followed us to Cloud City.’

‘And he did both things because of a vision,’ Han said skeptically. ‘So he fought Vader and got out alive. What does he need more training for?’

‘I don’t know.’ Leia sighed. ‘I think something else happened in Cloud City that Luke isn’t telling.’

‘Nothing we can do about it till he gets back,’ Han said, not unkindly, just with his usual pragmatic approach. ‘What about your day? Big meeting?’

‘Oh, um, no, I wouldn’t call it a big meeting,’ she said, caught off guard. In truth, they were still waiting on information from their Bothan spies about the Death Star. ‘Just looking at preliminary plans for our next moves.’

‘Okay. So you’re still not gonna tell me what’s going on that you’ve been keepin’ from me?’

Leia bit her lip. She could tell Han hadn’t bought her elusive answers about what the Alliance had been up to during his absence, but he’d let it go.

‘I’m sorry. The medics said—’

‘Not to excite me,’ Han said, with an amused tilt of his lips. 

‘Or upset you.’

‘C’mon. We’re well past the first one,’ Han reminded her. ‘Might as well.’

‘It’s not just that. _I_ wasn’t ready. I know it’s selfish but I—if we didn’t talk about it, then it could be as if—’ Leia took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, frustrated with herself. ‘It’s… they built a new Death Star.’

Han’s expression didn’t change as he brushed his thumb over her ribs.

‘Yeah. I know.’

‘Oh.’

‘Dunno how you expected me not to find out eventually, Princess, unless you went around askin’ everybody in the rebellion not to tell me.’

‘I might have asked a couple of people,’ Leia said, feeling her cheeks flush in embarrassment. 

Han raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s some dedication. So. New Death Star. You have a plan to take this one down?’

‘We’re working on it. Han—’ she started, not knowing exactly what she wanted to say but wanting to say something. His belief that Leia only wanted him around for her cause, and her own belief that that was true, had been a source of contention in the past. Now she knew better.

‘We’re gonna take it down,’ he said firmly before she could start. Some of the weight in her heart lightened, and her muscles simultaneously relaxed and felt heavy with exhaustion.

He wasn’t leaving. He was a free man, released from Jabba’s threat, but he wasn’t going anywhere this time. He was choosing to stay and fight, with her. It was almost overwhelming, the thought of building something permanent with someone, of baring your soul open to them, after protecting it for so long… but it hadn’t happened tonight. The choice had been made many moons ago under different stars, again and again, and reaffirmed in a hundred different ways, big and small. They weren’t just together anymore, but an _us_. A foundation, solid under their feet. Something you could count on.

‘Okay,’ Leia whispered, snuggling up against his chest. She blinked, and her eyelids didn’t feel like going back up.

**Author's Note:**

> If you have something nice to say, I'll love reading it :)


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